Encryption commission bill picks up more backers

A bill to create a national commission to study how law enforcement can get at secure data without endangering Americans’ privacy rights is getting more backing from a bipartisan group of senators.

This week, four more lawmakers signed on as co-sponsors to the measure from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), giving it 14 official backers, Warner’s office confirmed.

{mosads}The new sponsors are Republican Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Mike Rounds (S.D.) and Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich (N.M.).

The additional support cements the commission as Capitol Hill’s most broadly supported legislative response to growing concerns that encryption is stymying law enforcement from conducting regular investigations.

Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) — leaders of the Intelligence Committee — have also released the draft text of legislation that would require tech companies to help investigators access encrypted data.

Prominent law enforcement officials and the trade groups representing them have strongly backed the bill as necessary to to doing police work. 

But the effort has been met with pushback on Capitol Hill from lawmakers who are concerned the bill’s requirements would undermine the security of all digital products that protect Americans’ personal information from hackers.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a tech-focused privacy advocate, has vowed to filibuster the measure, and major Silicon Valley players like Facebook and Google have recently called the measure “unworkable.”

Instead, many have pressed the two sides to find a middle-ground solution.

Warner’s commission would bring these players to the table, and give them a year to deliver recommendations to Congress. The panel’s scope would expand beyond encryption, and explore more broadly how authorities can maintain security with the proliferation of modern technology.

The idea has picked up some support from cyber lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who chairs a top cyber-oriented subcommittee, and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the ranking member of the Commerce Committee.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has also told The Hill he will back the bill, although he has not signed on as a co-sponsor.

The House’s companion bill, from House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), was also introduced with 15 bipartisan co-sponsors.

“The challenge of protecting national security and digital security simultaneously is complex,” McCaul said when he introduced the bill.